Bottle-feeding device for bottle-capping machines.



J. V. IRENIUS. BOTTLE FEEDING DEVICE FOR BOTTLE OAPPING MACHINES.APPLICATION FILED APR.27, 1911.

1,191,?44 Patented June 30, 1914.

6 SHEETS-SHEBT 1.

flttozmea add/yw W a I V W J. V. IRENIUS.

BOTTLE FEEDING DEVICE FOR BOTTLE OAPPING MAGHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 27, 1911.

1 11. (I 1. 74%, Patented June 30, 1914.

8 SHEETSSHEET Q/Vi/Wmao I 3 mm yx/toz J. V. IRENIUS.

BOTTLE FEEDING DEVICE FOR BOTTLE GAPPING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 2'7, 1911.

Patented June 30, 1914.

6 SHEBTSSHEET 3.

51 vwayu/Coz WWI um:

J. V. IRENIUS.

BOTTLE FEEDING DEVICE FOR BOTTLE OAPPING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR.27, 1911.

1 1L744n Patented June 30,1914.

6 SHEETSSHEET 4.

wi/me/weoz 5] Wm wto c J. V. IRENIUS. BOTTLE FEEDING DEVICE FOR BOTTLEGAPPING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 27, 1911.

Patented June 30, 19M.

' \N' W gwpewboz J. V. IRENIUS.. BOTTLE FEEDING DEVICE FOR BOTTLEGAPPING momma.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 27, 1911.

Patented June 30,1914.

6 BHEETSSHEET 6.

LwWMD YIIMII-IIIIIIYIIIIIIIIIIIIA.

iJosEra-v. mum-"us,- or New, NEW- ERSEY,- ess're non o I P IAL s rorranT dll'icliomitmdi concernf. v A 1 I .Beit known that l-,.'Josr-:r HV.'Iii-laminae citizencfthelUnited States, residing. at

imam;

oomraur', a co OBATION 0F 'MAINE.

'porr'rtE-rmprue pavroaror. or'rLEE-carrme'macnruas.

spamsnLemma.- PatentedJune ea. t ara.

Application aleaa rn 27, 911. serial No. 23,794;

Newark, intlie county of'Essexand Stateo f' =New Jersey, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements Bottle F-eeding Devices forBottle-Capping ltIachiiies, ofwhich the following is a"full,= cl'ear,-.and exact de-i scriptioni v Y 1.

- This invention relates to: shifting and feeding mechanisms, and moreparticularly.

[are delivered to the mouths of the respective I heads, preparatory toCapping the bottles deto an apparatus forifeedin'g. bottles, or thelike, to a bottle sealingmachi'ne,"and has for its object theproyisionofnovel means for continuously delivering, for example, bottlestopoi'nts'in a suitable mechanism where said.

bottles maybe capped, and-thereafter deliv-'- ering the bottles orreceptacles so capped or;

. sealed-to convenient ,points at which they may be collected.

To attain the'ends above mentioned, my.- hereln ClQSCllbQCl invent oninvolves novel 'elements and combinations of elements, all of:

which will, be hereinafter.referred to, and.

more" particularly set forth in' the append- 5 ed claims.

Referring'to the'dra-wingswhich form a part hereof, and inswhichlikereference-chai acters designate like-parts throughout the several views:Figure li s" a front elevation of one form of bottling apparatus with-mynovel feeding mechanisn'r applied thereto.-

Fig: 2 is an endelevation of'the same. "Fig.

1 3 is a horizontalsection taken on the line III-HI ofFig. 2,.an dviewed in. the direc tion of the arrows. F ig. 4 is a detail sectiontaken'subs'tantia-lly on line IVIV of Fig; 3. Fig. 5 is a detail orfragn'ientary bottom view of a bifurcatedlever referred to"hereinafter.- Fig. '8 isa plan of therun-in section taken on-n e y-., vof Fig. 6. I F ig. 6 is a vertical fragmentary sect-ion taken on theline VT'YVI of' Fig. 3. Fig. 7 is a detail capping machine. Theconstruction" employed in the capping machine may be variedWltlllll'WIClGllIHltS, but the feeding mechanism is particularly welladapted to side of Fig. .1. ca-ms are angularly spaced'apart 180, thatthe left hand pair of bottles which are upon n1ultip le,head,Inachinesofthe type in question 'o1'-'iof an analogous description.brief therefore,-themachine illustrated in Fig. lcomp'rises side framesor standards 1 suitablyconnected together to form a frame.

This; frame carries a table 2, which preferably constitutes the'suppo'rtfor the feeding n1echa-nism hereinafter referred to. The capping heads 3are mountedupon a crosshead 4, which latter further supports the hoppers5 from which the stoppers or caps livered thereunder.. These heads areprefin this form 0f the capping machine drive .the bottles up into theheadsfor' capping the bottles.

except to state'th-at theyinay be provided ,with solneform ofcompensating mechanism to accommodate bottles of different lengths.

These plungers are reciprocated by means of cams 7, two of which areprovided, angularly spaced apart 180 andmounted upon a can1-shaft 8;This shaftis driven by means of, suitable gearing from a counter-shaft9, which'carries the usual driving pulley 10. .The cams aredisposedbetween forks 11. and bear-against rollers 1:2 which are mounted betweenpairs of these forks; one fork being provided for each of the plungermech anisms above referred to, so that the left hand cam 7 serves toraise and lower the two left hand bottle supports, while thecorresponding right handcam '71 operates the two supports shown upon theright hand It is obvious, since these thesaid supports willbe in theiruppermost positlon as shown inFlg. 1, when a pan: of bottles upon theright hand side are being fed to-or eniplace'd upon the right hand pairof supports, and vice versa. "Centrally. disposed upon the shaft 8 is asprocket. 13-

which is in engagement with a chain ll which drives a sprocket 15mounted upon ashaft 16 journaled'in suitable brackets 17' which dependfrom the underside of the table 2, as best shown in Fig. 6. Mountedupon'either extremity of-the shaft 16 is a crank disk 18, the wrist pinor stud 19 of each of which disks extends out laterally v The Iconstruction of these reclp- V rocable parts will not be furtherreferred to,

therefrom, the said pins being substantially I upper extremities areeach pivotally connected to a link 23. Each of these links is preferablyprovided with nuts 24' for adjusting its length. The forward extremityof each link 23 is connected to a lower arm 25 of a bell-crank, which ispivoted at 26 between a pair of upstanding ears 27 which are integrallyunited to a carriage 28. Two of these carriages are provided, one' forthe right hand side of the machine, and one for the left, and they aremounted upon pairs of guide rods 29 which are permanently mounted'inposition above the table 2 and arallel thereto; the extremities of theserod being received into supporting brackets 30, 30 for the same, whichare secured in any suitable manner to the upper surface of the table 2.The upper or substantially horizontal arm 31 of each bell-lever ispivotally connected by means of a pin 32 to a short rack section 33. Thecarriage 28 is preferably apertured immediately below this rack so as toafford room for the downward movement of the latter, and is slottedcross-wise as indicated at 34 in Figs. 4 and 5, for the reception of theforward extremities of pronged shifting members broadly designated 35.The forward and rear extremities of these members are hubbed as at36-37, the forward hubs 36 each being provided with a series of teeth 38which are disposed in engagement with the respective sides of the rack33. The shifting members 35 are of somewhat peculiar configuration andare designed to ride freely upon the guide rods 29, one member 35 beingmounted Each pin rides in upon each guide rod and being notalonelongitudinally displaceable thereover,"-but being further revolublymounted upon said rod. Each member 35 preferably comprises a rod likeportion 39 disposed between the hubs36-37 above referred to throughwhich extend the respective guide rods 29. These rod like parts arepreferably provided with bosses 39"which serve as stopsfor the upwardmovement of the prongs, the opposed bosses abutting against each otherwhen the prongs are in their uppermost positions.

-Laterally projectingfrom hub 37, as best shown in Fig. 4, is abifurcated prong. 40, while a single prong 41 similarly extends from theforward extremity of the rod like portion 39; and a second bifurcatedprong 42 is disposed in the same plane as those just mentioned, andsubstantially midway therebetween. By reason of the disposition of thesegmental gear hubs 36 in their respective slots 34, the shiftingmembers are constrained to reciprocate longitudinally of the guide rods29 in pairs as the respective carriages 28 are advanced or retractedover the table, and it is obvious, by reason of the construction shownin Figs. 4,5 and. 6, that when a link 23 is first caused to advancetoward the vertical plane of thecapping heads, it drives the arm 25 ofits bell-lever inwardly until an adjustable. stop, which in thisinstance is a set screw 43 which extends through this arm, engages aportion of the carriage 28 and limits the further movement of the armwith respect tdsaid carriage. The movement already accomplished,however, has served to elevate the corresponding rack 33 and has therebycaused a pair of the pronged shiftfing members 35 to be rotatedoutwardly with respect to the rack into the positions occupied by suchparts in Fig. 5, the prongs being then substantially in parallelism withthe table.

[Assuming now that a series of bottles are disposed in substantialjuxtaposition to each 9 other, as shown in Fig. 3, wherein the saidbottles have been designated 44, 44, the single prong 41 will have beenswung down between the innermost bottle 44' of the series and thatadjoining, while the bifurcated prong 42 will be disposed in advance ofthis innermost bottle, the distance between the right hand wing orfinger of the bifurcated prong 42and the prong 41 being but little morethan the diameter of the bottle. These parts are hence adapted toadvance this bottle toward the position occupied by bottle 45, which issubstantially centrally disposed upon the plunger, and byreason of thefact that the bottle is supported laterally by, the guardrails 46 whichare located upon either side thereof and forwardly and rearwardly by therongs above referred to, the likelihood 0 the bottle upsettingwhilebeing so advanced is substantially eliminated. .Upon the return strokeof the lever 21 which operates the link 23 in question, the'firstmovement rearwardly of the said link will cause the lower arm 25' of thebell-crank to which it is attached to swing outwardly and thereby movethe rack downwardly through the carriage which will immediately swingthe .prongs of the shifting members upwardly lnto the position indicatedto the left in Fig.

1. The longitudinal travel of these shifting members isappro-ximatelyequal to the distance from the center of the bottle 44'shown in Fig. 3 to the center of the bottle 45, this distance beingsubstantially equal to the di: ameter of a bottle plus the distance fromthe 1.25 outer face of one wing or finger of a bifurcated prong to theouter face of the other finger of said prong. When the next forwardmovement of the link takes place, these shifting members will again berotated outv the opposed vvings r fingers of the bifu r-i n'ieans of achain-and sprocket connection,- said'shaftbeing supported in suitablebearings depending from the table'; '-]fl 1is counter'shaft' in turndrives 'a sec ond connterr shaft-58in similar fa'sliiomthe latter-shafttin-e 50in said table, in \vhic h aperture arel disposed the plungersabove referred to.

'- Th'ewall of said" aperture 501 is notched I slightly, inthejipresent, instance dour v for the reception of a bolt v hichdepends" from the table 2 and a SP1111g52 is disposed u n l I 47 Into1ts ,n1 )permostposition] Upon-either" ntenna-Q q \vardly with respectto each other, in the.

manner above described, and eachj of the prongs 41 wvill engage a newbottle, which will have been advanced in the meantime by meanshereinafter referred-to, to the posltion' ignated l5 in Fig-3, vvillbereceived between cated prongs'l0l2, andhence will he slid from 'cfi'vits seat upon the phlnger which has; just been operated to cap .sa-id'bottle,- and will be positioned substantially as at if).

Pivotally secured to the underside of the table is a bifurcated lever 4,which ink-this instance has been secured toalug lSavhich extendsdownwardly through an aperture in the table and wh ch forms a part ofone of ,the snpportsEQ, above referred {Each arm of thlslever carries" astud 01113111 at) avhlchavhen the lever in .parallelrsnr'xvrth' thetable extends upvv'a'rdlj through an aperpoints, to aceolnxnodate thesepins rthe re be 4T apertured preferably centrallythereof around thisbolt and normally urges it lever side ofeach lever etTis a sniallbos's53 which is'adapted for engagement with a pin \vlnch vis somewhatloosely held nn-socket. 55 for the same, eachofthese sockets beingsecured to the table Q'i-n any snitableinan-ner,

so that the pins Marci held in position therelllflJ-F' reason of thesupport atl'ordedfbythe respective leversv l? When one of. these p ns isdepressed spr ng ylelds' and the ,correspondlnestop pins 49 arewithdrawn 1 'J. 5 hero the level. of the surface of the table and pernntfree passage of ai bottle there} over.

' Pins 5t are depressed at the proper inoni'ent andare held in theirdepressed position for a proper length 0f; time by lnean s, cthorizontally 'dlsposed fingers '56, which. are sec'ured totl e pronfqedmembers 33 in any .suitable .1nanner. When therefore a pair of thesemembers has been pulled for wardly toward the front; of the machine andthe respective members of the'said pair are thereafter :causedto's'vving' -apart and downwardly in the manner ahove'clescri'hcd. jthese fingers 56 which are carried by sa d.

members. will engage the corresponding pins 54' and therehy'vvithdrawthe stop' pins vl9-ff0111 the paths of the two bottlesto be n1oved,--all0vving said bottles to-be freely mg one-'such pin for-Reachbottle-way and, each p'in'serving when 1n its-uppermost p0 srtion, as astop to prevent theadvanceof the bottle. in contact th'erewith;The.leKfe-rv mounted on the crank disks "advanced andipositioned uponthe corresp0nd1ng' pan otplungers 1n the manner previously descr bed. I

i We will next consider the auxiliary mechanisms which serve to advancethe bottles toward the shifting' niei'nbers 35 and away i from the,smile. f m a v FigSsIandQ it"xvillbe seen 1 -'Refer1 =ing to that-theshaft 8 drives a countershaft fiT sby being located beneath thetable' atthe front of the n achine, Shafts 5? and 58am de-.' -s1gned'tofrojtateat substantially" the same speed and .each of these driveshort feeder I .belts 60 zin d 61; there being four belts 61,

the uppermost surfaces I 0f,Wl1lCll' form the I bottoms of the channelsorjvays in av hich the bottles areadvanfced toward the capping heads thesides of these channels being ing1y belts60 are .four. in number andtheir sr-1pporting'lngs 62 adapted for the reception of pins 62' which"are in turn rigidly held jinbraclrets 30-30" and (33. These brackets,

ofx-vlii'chj a number are provided as indicated i-n 3,- aresec'uredto'the table in anysultable manner; and the Width between the respectivepairs of; guide rails v'vhich loosening "thee-set screws tiland-adjustingofthese setscrews vvhen the desired width between a pair of'rilil'shas been provided.

,formeclby the guide-rails i6; .Correspond- Flipper s'uri'ace'sforln thebottonisjof the rear, 'c hannelsxor delivery ways whlchserve to aresupported tliereby may be varied bylln practice of course the Wlt ll'llbetiveen a pair for set of rails will be but little 111.0re

than the diameter of'the bottles to be, fed

therebetvveem and the rails will hence be 'arlju's ted for theparticular size of bottles "to be capped. llt maybe well to note herealso th a'tthe shifting members may be readilyr'enioved and replacedwith correspondmg members of different slzes to 'ac-.

coin'modateditterent sizes of bottles, thelengths of thcwviping fingers56 carried lay said members being of-coursc in correspond- 4 jencepath-the size ofbottles to be capped.

the wrist pins be ad ustablv 18, said disks being radially slottedvas atl. as shown in With this'end in view, also, 19, above referred to, may

hers may be varied. v Y

An all'Xll ary table 63' 15 preferably provided, this table havingsubstantially the form indicated in Figs. 2, 3 and 8, and being providedwith a series of slightly flexible guide strips 65-65 and-66 therearmost extremities of these strips being adapted for engagement withthe forward extremities of the corresponding rails 4L6; one form'ofconmotion between these parts being shown in Fig. 10, wherein a strip 65is shown with cars 67 extending therefrom, and the said ears beinperforated for the reception of a pin 68 which extends downwardlythrough the end of the rail. The auxiliary table may be slotted as at 69for the reception of studs 70, the strips 65 haying their forwardextremities sharply bent as at 71 to form overlajpping portions betweenwhich and the respective bodies of the strips 65, are dis- 1 posed theextremities of the strips 65. By

reason of this construction the studs 70 may be shifted laterally withrespect to the table, and thereby one may adjust the width of thechannel ways formed by said strips, to accommodate different sizes ofbottles, these bottles being deposited from the beer filler 72 upon theforward end'of the auxiliary table 63, and the accumulation and 0ontinued influx of bottles upon this end of the is as follows: Assumingthat a series of bottlcs have been deposited upon the respective Itable. forcing said bottles into the channelways, above referred-to,from whence they are delivered onto the belts 61. v

The general"operation of the mechanism belts and that the cappingmechanism is being driven from'this pulley 10, the cams 7 will cause,let us say, the right hand pair of plungers to be elevated, and assumingthat a bottle has been positioned upon each of these plungers byshifting members 35 in the manner above described, such bottles .will becapped and when the said plungers are.

lowered the bottles will he slid off therefrom by the shifting membersto the positions designated 45, in which positions they are not yetsubject to the action of belts 60. It may be observed at this point thatbottlcs in positions. 44: immediately to the right of the plungers inFig. 3 "are also not subject to the action of belts 61 except indirectlythrough the pressure which may be exerted by the adjacent bottles whichform the remainder of the series, which bottles of course are beingurged forward toward the capping heads by the continuously movingbeltsGl. A bottle disposed as at 4:6 is, as aforesaid not subject to theadjacent belt (30, and will hence remain stationary until driven ontosaid belt by the next rearward stroke of the corresponding shiftingmember. f

mile the bell levers are adapted to nor- .mally elevatecthe prongs of,the shifting members upon the commencement of the provide auxiliary andvery positively acting means for aiding this uplifting action, suchmeans in the present exemplification of my invention comprising lipshaped brackets 73 gers are being elevated and thereby positivelyelevate said prongs so that when the shifting members are longitudinallydisplaced upon the beginning of their return strokes,the bottlesdisposed at points 45 and 16 cannot by any possibility be displacedbackwardly.

It will be observed that the means employed for oscillating the lever21, shownin Fig. 6, for example, impart a relatively slow movement tothis element when .its upper extremity is being rocked toward theplungers, and a relatively rapid movement when the said upper part 'isbeing moved away from said plungers. This action is due to the fact thatthe leverage of the wristpin orfstud 19 with respect to the shaft 22,

is varied, the leverage being considerably longerwhen the pin is in itslowermost posi- This action .is of considerable impor-- substantiallyhalf the distance which it is to Q travel. Thereafter its motion isslowed down and it comes to rest, upon the plunger for example, withoutany abrupt stoppage. In general therefore it will be seen that eachgiven shifting member engages a bottle three successive times; first tomove it on to a plunger seat, second to move 1t from thence to a point45, and finally to move it from thence on to a belt 6 O, from whenceitmay be collected by an attendant. I particula'rly desire'to callattention to the utility of the automatic bottle stopping applianceswhich comprise'the levers 47, pins 49, e tc.,,

since it is obvious that if it were not for the provision of some suchdevices as have been, here exemplified, there would be atendency toadvance the bottles inopportunely toward theplun'gers-which wouldprobably 'result in breakage ofbottles andjthe loss of the contents. T emechanism herein described 1s particu arly elficaclous and regular in1ts action, and 111 practlce hasjafforded most excellent results. To thebest of my knowledge it is based upon principles heretofore not utilizedin this or analogous connections and I am fully aware that numerousmodifications of various parts of the mechanism may be made within thepurview of my invention, and hence desire to be limited only by thescope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim.

1. In a feeding mechanism, in combination, a reciprocable and rotatablemember, means for moving said member, a belt having a. substantiallystraight portion adapted to move articles toward said member, saidmember having portions thereof adapted to engage said articles, andmeans for driving said belt, the line of movement over which said memberreciprocates being substantially parallel to said straight portion ofsaid belt.

2. In a bottle feeding mechanism, a set of rigid spaced guides, a set ofrelatively flexible spaced guides, the respective flexible guides andrigid guides being disposed end to end, and bottle shifting mechanismfor moving bottles between the respective sets of guides, the guides ofeach of said sets being spaced apart substantially the diameter of abottle to be moved.

3. In a feeding mechanism, the combination of a reciprocable memberadapted to engage articles to be handled by said feeding mechanism withmechanism for reciprocating said member, a conveying appliance havingportions thereof adapted for engagement with said articles, saidarticles being movable thereby toward said reciprocating member, astopping device for limiting the advance of said articles toward thereciprocating member, and means for automatically actuating said deviceat predetermined intervals, said stopping device being disposed beyondsaid conveying appliance and in the path of movement of the articlesbeing delivered therefrom, said actuating means for said device beingopera- ,ltoively connected to said reciprocable mem- 4. In a feedingmechanism the combination of a reciprocable and rotatable member, withaguide for said member, and mechanism for reciprocating and rotatingsaid member, said mechanism comprising a plurality of cotiperatingelements adapted to move said member at greater speed in one directionthan in the other, and means whereby the stroke of said member may bevaried.

5. The combination of a multiple head bottle capping machine with abottle feeding mechanism therefor, said mechanism comprising a pluralityof reciprocable members adapted to shift bottles into posi-' tionbeneath the capping heads of said ma chine, and mechanism forreciprocating said members, one of said members being advanced toward acapping head-while a second of said members is being retracted from acapping head.-

G. In a feeding mechanism, the combination of a reciprocable androtatable member with guides for said member, and co-actingreciprocating mechanism and rotating mechanism for said member, saidrotating mechanism comprising a rack and means for reciprocating saidrack, said last mentioned means also constituting a part of saidreciprocating mechanism.

7. In a feeding mechanism, the combination of a reciprocable androtatable member with guides for said member, mechanism forreciprocating and rotating said member, said mechanism comprising arack, a hell 1 ver for reciprocating said rack, a link connected to saidbell lever, said rack, bell lever and link co-acting to rotate saidmember, and means for limiting the rotary motion of said member.

8. In a feeding mechanism, the combination of a reciprocable androtatable menr ber with a guide for said member, and mechanism forreciprocating and rotating said member, said mechanism comprising aplurality of parts constituting a train of power transmitting elementsfor effecting reciprocation of said member, and means adapted to co-actwith one of said parts for rotating said member prior to translating thesame.

9. In combination with a bottlingmachine having a plunger and a cappinghead, a bottle feeding mechanism comprising bottle guides, means foradvancing bottles between said guides onto and off of said plunger, saidmeans including a reciprocable shifting member, said member beingprovided with bottle engaging portions, and a part carried by saidplunger adapted to engage a portion of said member, whereby said memberis rotated when the plunger is operated.

10. In a feeding mechanism, the combination of a reciprocable androtatable member with a guide for said member, and mechanism forreciprocating and rotating said member, said mechanism comprising meansfor rotating said member prior to translating the same in one direction,and auxiliary means for rotating said member prior to translating thesame in the reverse direction.

In witness whereof, I subscribe my signature, in'the presence of twowitnesses.

' JOSEPH v. IRENIUS.

Witnesses CHAS. E. WADE, WM. A. ROSENBAUM.

